Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Blair County recapped the general business of its summer session recently.
The BB/BS Sixth Annual Pepsi Golf Classic held Monday, July 28 at the Scotch Valley Country Club in Hollidaysburg was deemed a success by organizers, volunteers and participants.
Twenty-eight foursomes golfed as a fundraiser for the youth of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State University Defensive Coordinator, was the special celebrity golfer, and the tournament raised $21,500 for the agency.
Also, BB/BS of Blair County was selected as the recipient of the Reliance Bank Share the Wealth Grant of $1,000 to purchase booster seats for children in the agency ages four to eight years old.
The agency was also selected as the recipient of a $2,550 grant from Ronald McDonald’s Children’s Charities.
The grant will be used for equipment and materials to help expand the agency’s school and site-based mentoring programs for the 2003-04 school year.
Edgar and Sandy Snyder of Edgar Snyder and Associates presented Rick Reeves, President of BB/BS of Blair County with a check for $3,550 to help the children involved with the agency.
In other agency news, The Green Fund, a recycling program that benefits the Big Brothers/Big Sisters, pays the agency $2 for every printer cartridge and up to $7 for every toner cartridge that is sent to them.
It costs the agency nothing because the Green Fund pays for the postage on the recycled cartridges.
If anyone would like to donate cartridges from a home or office computer, fax machine or copier, contact the Blair County Big Brothers/Big Sisters at 944-6129.
Recycling partners so far include: Mountain Research, M&T Bank, Mark’s Computers and Keystone Printing Company.
A special achievement for BB/BS of Blair County is that former Big Sister Peggy Thatcher and her former Little Sister, Brianna Zeoli, will be featured in this year’s United Way video. The two were matched in July of 1989, when Brianna was nine years old.
The two remained matched until Brianna graduated high school in 1998, but the friendship didn’t end there.
Brianna graduated from Shippensburg University in May 2003 and has been hired as a full-time math teacher in Frederick, MD. The video will showcase the pair’s inspiring story of friendship over the years.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the agency, ways to become a volunteer or ways to become a Big Brother or Big Sister, contact the Altoona office at 944-6129.
